The Congolese Presidential Election was held under the combined Presidential, Legislative and Provincial Elections on December 30, 2018 after it was previously postponed until the end of 2017.

The announcement sparked strong condemnation by the
Congolese opposition immediately after an election official said then that the
election could not take place until April 2019.

CENI president, Corneille Nangaa, said the delay was necessary
because violence was hampering voter registration in the central Kasai region.

Nangaa said CENI officials would need 504 days to prepare the presidential vote after registration which was expected to be complete by January 2018. This mean that the election would have been held almost two years later in 2020.

Congolese President Joseph Kabila took over power in 2001 after the assassination of his father Laurent Kabila.

The junior Kabila has applied delay tactics to push the election date and had made a deal with opposition parties in December to hold the election before the end of 2017. This however could not happen and the election was pushed to late 2018.

In the SADC statement, Lungu said, “SADC urges all
political parties, candidates, and their supporters to exercise patience and all
concerned stakeholders to remain calm and act in a way that consolidates
democracy and preserves peace.”

The Catholic Church which is a powerful organisation in
the DRC has disputed the results saying that Felix Tshisekedi’s win against
Martin Fayulu does not reflect the data collected from polling stations by its
observers.

DRC’s Catholic bishops’ body CENCO spokesman Father
Donatien Nshole said, “The result of the presidential election as
published by CENI does not correspond with the data collected by our observer
mission from polling stations and counting centres.”

This statement revealed what the Catholic Church said last
week when it said it knew who had won the vote.

Instead of revealing who it was, CENCO instead urged CENI to publish the results
“in keeping with truth and justice”.

Nshole hailed the announcement of the results, however,
noting that it was an historic moment for the country which was voting for the
first time.

SADC has called upon all stakeholders with concerns,
including regarding the accuracy of the results, to pursue any election dispute
about the provisional results, peacefully.

Fayulu’s suporters say he garnered more than 60 per cent of the vote making him the outright winner against Tshisekedi whom many see as a ‘negotiated opposition prop’ who will be under Kabila’s control.

To seek redress, Fayulu’s camp says it will file a formal
fraud complaint on Saturday.

Fayulu’s supporters accuse the authorities of rigging the
result in a deal to protect Kabila’s people in his administration and to also maintain
his influence over security forces.

Congo’s 80 million people fear the disputed vote could cause
unrest where there have been isolated post-election violence incidents.

The election is the country’s first semblance of democratic
transfer of power in 60 years.

Congo’s wealth, which powers most of the world, has been
a cause of pain for many in the country that has suffered war for decades.

The world’s electronics manufacturers thrive on the
country’s rich minerals.

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